The present invention relates generally to a system and an apparatus for controlling a gushing well, and more specifically to a system including a vehicle having articulated components including a carriage adapted to transport and position a multi-part device having a valve included as a part thereof for mounting on a pipe casing of a gushing well.
The instant invention is generally related to the field of controlling the flow from gushing oil wells which may or may not be on fire. Most modern approaches to the problem have centered around stopping the flow without providing for the continued use of the well. Usually when a well is out of control the mechanism for controlling the flow from the well is either damaged or destroyed. Sometimes all that remains is a pipe casing projecting from the ground with oil and other materials gushing therefrom. In those instances where a mechanism controlling a well has been damaged and is still in place with the well gushing, the well pipe casing is cut off below the damaged mechanism to provide an exposed end of the pipe casing. It is a common approach to then try to insert a plug in the open end. When an oil well is on fire a number of varied approaches have been taken which include the use of explosive charges to attempt to blow the fire away from the well so that attempts can then be made to either cap or to plug the well. The least desirable of all approaches from a production stand point is the use of earth working equipment to fill in the well.
A search was done to review the patentability of the instant invention. The references found are discussed below, but their value, and in some cases their operability, is questioned. One device, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,874,889, shows a device carried by a carriage which is rolled over the end of a well and engaged such that the valve can be closed and the well controlled. Another device for controlling a gushing well, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,978,377, includes a pair of valves 14 and 15 pivoted relative to a collar mounted on the well pipe casing by an actuator rod permitting the operator to function at a distance from the well. A vehicle is shown bringing an apparatus for controlling a gushing well in U.S. Pat. No. 1,351,700. Another vehicle is shown in a Russian inventor's certificate dated Jun. 6, 1980 and numbered SU-938182. Another device shown installing a valve on a well is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 1,803,945. And another device for controlling fluid around a joint between two pieces of well pipe casing is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 2,522,444.
It is believed that none of the prior art devices and approaches to the controlling of a gushing oil well disclose or anticipate the system and apparatus as disclosed and claimed herein.